Well, at first the negotiations were looking good, but one of the bombs taped up in the gym fell off and exploded, causing one more to explode as well.. that is when the chechnian "terrorists" started firing. The russians had no other choice besides firing back, trying to save as many hostages as they could. It's a sad situation, really.. all of that because of a mistake the guerillas made. There isn't really anything anyone could have done differently on the russian side, other than fire with more accuracy
